Behind the Scenes, a Powerful Editor Lives, Breathes and Shapes His State

By JON NORDHEIMER,

Published: August 18, 1992

NEWARK, Aug. 13—
Mort Pye has arguably wielded more influence in New Jersey affairs over the last quarter-century than any other person, public or private. But his name would not be recognized by the average reader of the newspaper he has edited since 1957, The Star-Ledger.

Mr. Pye has taken pains to stay out of the spotlight, ducking interviews, almost never appearing on television, an editor who has confined his professional life to the newsroom and rarely ventured out of it.

But as a tub-thumper for New Jersey and -- not incidentally -- The Star-Ledger, he has had few peers.

Under him the paper, once weak, grew to become the 14th largest in the nation. On a state level, Mr. Pye has been a major force behind the sports complex at the Meadowlands, the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel and the proposed Center for the Performing Arts in Newark.

Now 74 years old, Mr. Pye insists he has no thoughts of stepping down. But the retirement this month of his longtime managing editor has revived speculation about who might eventually inherit Mr. Pye's mantle. A Reputation to Overcome

Both the state and the newspaper, based in Newark but circulated through northern and central New Jersey, used to suffer the psychic pain of growing up in the shadow of powerful competitors and neighbors.

For New Jersey, it was the historical perception that it served little purpose other than as a back door to New York or a stepping stone to Philadelphia, a perception that has changed in recent years as it drew professional sports teams, businesses and residents away from its rivals.

When Mr. Pye arrived at The Star-Ledger, it was a scandal sheet that suffered by nearly every comparison to the New York news-media giants and to its rival down the street, The Newark Evening News. The News had greater circulation, was more prosperous and respected, and had higher journalistic standards.

"I hate to speak ill of the dead," Mr. Pye says, "but The Star-Ledger was not thriving in the 1950's, even though Newark then was still a prosperous city.

"The staff was small, production was primitive and there was little idea of what we were doing. The paper was going downhill fast."

Mr. Pye, whose wife, Florence, is a member of the Newhouse newspaper family, which owns The Star-Ledger, was brought in as top editor to revamp it, beef up the reporting staff and compete with The Evening News for statewide prominence.

Two developments hastened that accomplishment.

Five days of rioting in Newark in July 1967 left 26 people dead, 1,500 injured and $10 million in property damage. The disturbance hastened the flight of white residents and businesses from Newark. The Star-Ledger, faced with a heavy investment in a new headquarters and plant that opened the year before, had no choice but to stay. But it was only a matter of time before the name of the city was dropped from the paper's masthead and the push for circulation outside Essex County, already under way, was accelerated.

And by the early 1970's, The Evening News, battered by the riots, changing demographics and competition from television, folded.

The Star-Ledger shrewdly moved into the void left by the departure of its rival and aspired to be a statewide newspaper.

Statewide sports coverage was greatly expanded, news bureaus opened in 15 of the state's 21 counties, and split runs delivered local news in zoned editions. The Trenton bureau soon had more reporters and provided more political and governmental coverage than any other paper.

With a daily (price: 25 cents) circulation of 483,400, The Star-Ledger ranks 14th in the nation and is by far the most widely read newspaper in New Jersey. It easily outsells its closest challengers in the state, The Asbury Park Press (166,300), The Record in Bergen County (161,800), The Courier-Post in Camden (98,130) and The Trenton Times (82,000). The Sunday Star-Ledger, a fat, ad-rich bundle that costs only 50 cents at the newstand, is bought by 717,500 readers, making it the 11th-largest Sunday paper in the nation.

The Newhouse chain is privately owned and its profits are not available, but The Star-Ledger is regarded as highly lucrative.

Behind all this success stands Mr. Pye, a diminutive figure who looks swallowed up by his clothes. There is a horseshoe of white hair girding a bald head, giving him the look of a benign monk. His health, he says, is sound, and he still puts in six days of work in a hands-on management style that plunges him into every aspect of newsroom work with a staff of 300 reporters, editors and assistants.

But the retirement of his second-in-command, Henry (Andy) Stasiuk, has set off buzzing that the person named to fill Mr. Stasiuk's place might eventually replace Mr. Pye.

There is talk that that person may be Steven Newhouse, a member of the publishing family, who currently is editor in chief of The Jersey Journal in Jersey City. In an interview, Mr. Pye gave no hints but noted that "complicated changes will be announced by the end of the month" and added with a small smile, "We like to promote from within at The Ledger, but that is not always possible."